Performance -
As the EEE Pad TF101 is a complete and standalone system we are not going to be covering the usual items we do with our PC based reviews. Instead we are going to focus on how well the Transformer works and where it sits in the Market; is the Transformer nothing more than an entertainment device or can it really bridge the gap and be used for productivity work? Of course we will also cover battery life, heat and what it is like to carry the Transformer around for three weeks and actually make use of it
Power and Battery Life -
Power efficiency is another of those misnomers that we get caught up in. We hear about idle states and power gates. But what does that mean to you and I? On the surface having power management that reduces idle power sounds great and can be a benefit to someone that leaves their system on for long periods of time (and inactive) but how a system handles power under load and the delta between the two states is often more important than the idle power usage numbers. We use only P3 Kill A Watt instruments for measuring power. Battery Life was measured under normal usage with the Wireless adapter on, an SD card in the system. We ran the system with the dock and without until it shut down a total of five times (each)then chose the median number (the one in the middle) to determine the average battery life on the EEE Pad TF101. Power draw from the wall was ridiculously minimal. Under idle conditions or when doing simple tasks we pulled a total of 12 Watts from the wall. Even under the most extreme tests we could run (Watching Videos or Playing Games) we only pulled a whopping 20 Watts of power from the Wall.
Asus rates the TF101 at 16 hours of battery life with the dock attached. This is with the Screen set to 60nits brightness and running 720p HD video. 16 hours is not bad at all but we have a feeling you are not going to watch many movies with the dock attached. We found that under normal usage (email, internet playing a few games) we were able to get around 25 hours of life from our battery. When we had the same usage profile we and left the dock on we actually hit almost 39 hours before we had to plug in and charge again. When we went heavy with image editing (using Photoshop Express) the times dropped to 12 hours without the dock and 30 hours with. When we went with a heavy multimedia experience and ran a bunch of movies we dropped again to 5 hours without the dock and just under 15 with the dock attached. In other words the Transformer can offer you quite a bit of time no matter what use you are putting it to.
Cooling -
Cooling is an important factor in product performance and longevity. Components like the chipset, VRM modules and even capacitors need to be kept relatively cool to prevent failure. As these parts are made of silicon, they have a thermal breakdown threshold; or melting point. At that temperature the actual transistors built into chip will begin to deform and break down. Granted, the threshold is often very high, but you still need to make sure that components stay away from this level of heat for longer product life. The Transformer is all passively cooled. Despite that is never got hot or even warm while under use. It really can keep its cool and continue to operate. There really is not much to talk about here; we simply could not get the device to heat up noticeably.
Audio -
Audio is highly subjective. What we find pleasing may sound “off” to you. That is always going to the problem with testing audio; results will vary too widely depending on the tastes of the listener. However, there are ways of measuring the audio output with an objective ear. There is also the issue of audio causing performance issues in gaming and video playback. The reason this is a potential source of concern is that all onboard audio CODECs (Compression/Decompression) are CPU controlled. This means that while the audio chip controls the audio levels and effects of the audio the actual work is done on the CPU. Usually this will not be a problem with today’s powerful CPUs. Even the lower and consumer level products can handle high-end audio these days. But again there is the chance that a bad design or software will hinder your system and performance. On the other side the limits of board space, cost, etc will also prevent the level of audio quality you can get from an add-in board. We test all audio parts with three media types, Movie (DVD), MP3 Music, and Gaming. These are pushed to our Tec On model 55 Tube Amp to see if we can detect any signal issues in the reproduction. The Audio on the Transformer uses the HD Audio Codec found in the nVidia Tegra2 SoC. This is a great audio Codec as we saw when we tested out the ZuneHD not all that long ago. It is capable of a much greater range than what we find on other Android Tablets and the iPad (1 and 2) and the sound is more vibrant and full. This is important for gaming, movies and of course music. It is also one of the items that sets the Tegra 2 above the A5, Apple’s A5 needs and external audio codec to run while the Tegra has one built right in.
Networking -
This one is something that is a requirement anymore. If you have a computer, the chances are good (like 99%) that you are also connected to high-speed internet. With this you need a good and solid LAN chip to make sure that your data flows properly out and back. We were unable determine the exact wireless controller in the Transformer but considering the Bluetooth radio is version 2.1 + EDR we are suspecting that it is Atheros just like on the EP121. This is a good setup, but it can be picky about drivers… fortunately Android does not need the same level of driver support that Windows does but it is certainly something to keep in mind for future updates and also if Windows 8 shows up for the Transformer. We did have some minor performance issues with the network controller on the Transformer, for some reason the signal strength would vary wildly even though I was less than 10-feet from the access point. Interestingly enough, that is very similar to what I see on the EP121 at times.
Gaming -
Gaming on the Transformer was fun and snappy; with the right game. We found that some games did not run as fast on the Transformer as we would have thought. Even though the Transformer has an nVidia GeForce GPU inside its small parcel of silicon we were still shocked to find that games like Fruit Slice performed no faster on the Transformer than they did on our Evo 3D. On the other hand we found that games from the Tegra Zone (a preinstalled application) ran flawlessly. One of our favorite was Galaxy on Fire 2. It reminded me of the old Privateer game from the Windows 95/98 days. The graphics were much better and the story line was not the same either, but the feel of the game was awesome. We tried it in both virtual joystick mode and accelerometer mode and found the gaming experience to be much better, both visually and immersion-wise than what we are used to on an iPad. 
Productivity -
Here is my issue with the whole, non-Windows tablet market. There is nothing that can take the place of the productivity you can get out of even the lowest end PC. I went through 4-5 productivity applications and not one of them was able to replace Office. I tried Documents to Go, Polaris Office, Quick Office and many more besides that. At best they were a pain to use and at worst some corrupted my files (Excel files in particular. I hate to say it, but here Apple has Android beat. Pages, Numbers and Keynote are far superior than any of the apps we found for the Android. Normally I would write up a review of a system like the Transformer on that device; this time after two sections I could not take it.
Entertainment -
When we kicked off this review we had in the back of our heads that although the Transformer comes with a keyboard it would be more of an entertainment and messaging device. To try this out we made sure that we had some good multi-media content available. We would have grabbed Netflix, but there is not a working version for Honeycomb in the Market at the time of this writing. So we had to improvise. We grabbed a few movies that we have from previous tablet reviews and moved them over to the Transformer. Unfortunately, the default video player that comes with Android 3.x does not support the Dvix, Xvid or even standard AVI formats. We had to go hunting and in the end found an app called Rocket Player than worked out for us. We did have a movies app, but that did not come with anything and we did not feel like renting or buying one just for this review. Still we had some of our favorites available now; Lord of War, Dogma, and others. These played flawlessly with or without headphones. The screen was sharp and the audio great. We even found that with a simple app called File Manager HD we were able to buffer videos that were on the network. It took a very long time to queue them up, but once they were there the video quality was good. For music, again the HD audio processor in the Tegra2 made listening to music great. The sound was full and vibrant (much like the ZuneHD). Next on the entertainment list came eBooks; while the default interface found in Vibe and the My Cloud app was not that great Nook and Kindle were excellent in fact the Transformer is about the size of a large paperback book which makes reading much easier than on the iPad or the EP121. I have rediscovered more than a few books again, and with the “use publisher’s defaults” setting in the Nook software it is a great experience.
General Performance -
For general web browsing, email and messaging the Transformer is very well suited to the task (with the exception of the horrible email app). I find myself using it to check on things, look for interesting things to write about (the forwarding the links or dropping them into Evernote). Checking email and sending off quick responses is also simple and quick. The larger screen makes it easier than on my phone, but again it is hindered by the less complete mail application. I do know that I will continue using this as an interim device and one that is well suited to easy tasks and gaming. It will free up my EP121 for productivity and real work. At least until Windows 8 hits or someone comes out with some real productivity applications.
